About IHC

The Instituto de História Contemporânea is devoted to study, education and dissemination in the field of Contemporary History in general and of Portuguese Contemporary History in particular. Founded in 1990, it is constituted by teachers of Contemporary History of the Department of History of the FCSH and by other researchers invited in the statutory terms.

Mission

To develop and promote study and research of Contemporary History in general and of Portuguese History, at both national and international levels, maintaining a constant and programmed activity, adequating and adjusting the principles and priorities of its scientific program to the training of researchers and the dissemination of the outcomes of their work;

To contribute to the promotion of a culture based on history, indispensable for a sustained and generalized development of the knowledge society, through the accomplishment of actions and projects of scientific nature and an active dissemination of its outcomes making use of various communication platforms, from conventional publication to new information technologies;

To intensify the degree and means of internationalization of studies and researches on contemporary history, stimulating interchanges, developing partnerships and networks and promoting interdisciplinarity at a national and international level.

Regarding the hosting institution

To ensure teaching and education in the field of contemporary history at the History Department of the FCSH (1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles) and to collaborate with other departments/disciplinary fields in various initiatives, namely through the participation in the FCSH Summer School and other and other activities.

Regarding the unit in general

To ensure the development of research and an original historical production at a level of excellency, combining individual interests with its own programmed agenda, established by the Scientific Commission of the ICH, taking into account identified deficits and gaps in certain areas of historiography, the opportunity and the general and conjunctural strategic interests of some subjects in a national and international scope, considering the opinions of its External Advisory Commission;

To constitute a qualified body of researchers, competitive and internationalized, capable of ensuring renovation and amplification of fields of research and production in the area of contemporary history in its different aspects;

To create and participate in liaisons, networks and other kinds of connections that propitiate and strengthen the activity of ICH in the field of history and in articulation with other scientific areas and frameworks;

To create conditions to welcome and integrate researchers, generating dynamics of acquisition of specific skills in fields that become increasingly more ample, making the ICH more flexible and competitive;

To admit, integrate and support students and researchers in the development of their scientific work and their postgraduate education.

Regarding the society in general

To regularly offer activities, meetings and advanced training courses and specialization courses, aimed at the scientific and pedagogical updating of the study and teaching of contemporary history, directed to history professionals and to the public in general;

To render services, to accomplish research activities and projects in the different domains of competence of the ICH researchers;

To collaborate with other institutions, namely the media, schools, societies (organization of archival nuclei, juries for the attribution of prizes, organization of exhibitions …);

To promote scientific debate and circulation of ideas and knowledge through an active intervention in society in general in matters concerning contemporary history, promoting and stimulating respect for culture, for memory, for material and immaterial patrimony, aiming to promote the perception and the assumption of historical past as a cultural heritage indispensable to understand the present and to build the future;

To organize information, tools of reference, and to make resources available, in terms of contents and methodologies in the scope of history, to students and to the public in general, assuming as our social responsibility the contribution to the dissemination of knowledge and the promotion of a culture with a accurate and scientific historical basis.

Regarding research groups

To participate in an agile and efficient way in the accomplishment of the activities of the ICH, sharing resources, combining strategies and different competencies, which become more and more ample and specialized, providing even more rigorous economies of scale, levels of productivity and times of execution of projects and activities;

To formulate and accomplish a scientific program and a plan of activities articulated with other groups and the unit as a whole;

To disseminate and publish actions and results of activities, on a regular basis, preferably relying on our own resources;

To accomplish initiatives requested by public and private external entities, seeking external resources and a solid and sustainable ground for growing and renovating.